Bird Words 2: NFL Playoffs Set, CFP Reactions and Liverpool's time to shine
Football (both kinds) dominated the Christmas holiday.
After a wild weekend dominated by football (American), preceded by a Christmas break dominated by football (everyone else in the world’s version), a lot has happened in the past five days. Here is a recap from one of the best periods of the sports calendar:
AFC Playoffs: Titans get the job done, Steelers collapse and Patriots??????
Ryan Tannehill dragged the Tennessee Titans all the way to the postseason after taking over in relief of Marcus Mariota a few months ago. The former Miami Dolphin has revived his career and found a franchise he can finally thrive in.
The star of the show of the Titans wild card clinching 35-14 victory over a shorthanded Houston Texans team was running back Derrick Henry. Henry’s 211 yard, 3 touchdown, performance was enough for him to steal the rushing title from the Cleveland Browns’ Nick Chubb.
Tannehill will take on a familiar foe in the Wild Card round, as the Titans will be travelling to Foxborough to take on the New England Patriots.
And let’s talk about the Patriots. New England, a team that enters the year with the division and a first round bye almost guaranteed, let a first round bye slip from their grasp in Week 17. The biggest surprise is who they allowed this collapse to come against. Tannehill’s former team, the Miami Dolphins, managed to upset the Patriots at Gilette Stadium on a last minute touchdown pass by Ryan Fitzpatrick. The Dolphins have now stolen a game off of the Patriots for three straight years, and six of the last seven. It’s their first on the road since 2008, though.
New England was not the only team that epically collapsed in Week 17. Their longtime foe atop the AFC, the Pittsburgh Steelers, played in a must win game against a Baltimore Ravens team that rested their stars. Pittsburgh was thoroughly dominated by the Ravens, though. Devlin Hodges could not get anything going on offense, and the defense that carried them to the verge of a playoff berth could not hold off Robert Griffin III, Gus Edwards and Justice Hill forever. The cherry on top was punter Jordan Berry mishandling the snap near his own endzone late in the fourth quarter, attempt to pick up the ball and run with it, only to be strip sacked for a season-ending Ravens touchdown.
Teneessee’s win meant that the Steelers result did not matter anyways, but Pittsburgh looked dead in what was essentially a playoff game. The Ravens had nothing to play for and still looked like they cared more.
NFC Playoffs:
The big game on the NFC side of the playoff picture was the Sunday night season finale between the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers. San Francisco narrowly avoided a fourth quarter collapse as a goal line stop prevented Seattle from scoring their third touchdown of the quarter with only seconds to play. There were literally inches between Jacob Hollister and the goal line on the Seahawks last gasp effort to win, and the 49ers managed to clinch the top overall seed in the NFC.
Carson Wentz and the Philadelphia Eagles made things harder than it needed to be for themselves. They took on an inferior New York Giants with a simple goal. Win, and take the NFC East crown and make the playoffs. With the Dallas Cowboys laying a beating on Washington, the Eagles had no room for error and needed a win to avoid disaster. The offense had trouble moving though, largely due to the fact that many of their receivers were dude’s who were stocking grocery stores or working as cashiers a few months ago. Running back Boston Scott, a 5’6 second year back out of Louisiana Tech, put together a three touchdown performance. A late turnover by Giants quarterback Daniel Jones sealed the deal, and Philly escaped with a 34-17 win that was closer than the scoreboard indicates.
Aaron Rodgers had a rough finish to the regular season. The Green Bay Packers quarterback’s accuracy was everywhere and he missed a ton of easy throw. If not for a late turnover by Detroit Lions third string quarterback David Blough allowed the Packers a late lifeline, and they ended up kicking a last second field goal to win 23-20 and lock up a first round bye.
While the game ended up not mattering, the New Orleans Saints’ 42-10 bludgeoning of the Carolina Panthers was the perfect momentum builder for them heading into the playoffs.
Browns gonna brown
Tell me if you’ve heard this one before: the Cleveland Browns have fired their head coach after his first season on the job.
Yup. Freddie Kitchens is out after the offseason champion Cleveland Browns lost to a one win (now two) Cincinnati Bengals team to finish a season where they should have been contending with a lowly 6-10 record. Kitchens was apparently quarterback Baker Mayfield’s first choice for head coach, as he held much of the responsibility for the quarterback’s stand out rookie season when Kitchens served as the team's offensive coordinator last season. Mayfield’s endorsement did not quite work out for him, as he heavily regressed in year two despite the addition of Odell Beckham Jr. to play alongside him.
The job hunt will begin once again in Cleveland. Honestly, though, with Beckham apparently wanting out and star edge rusher Myles Garrett potentially suspended heading into next season, who would even want this job at the moment. Everything seems like a mess yet again in Cleveland.
And the winner of the rase for Chase is: Washington!
Three teams entered Week 17 with a real chance to earn the second overall pick (the Bengals already had clinched the first) and the opportunity to select star Ohio State Buckeyes edge rusher Chase Young. Washington, the Detroit Lions and the New York Giants all ended up losing, meaning Washington held on to the spot, and now the Giants get to figure out how to block Young twice a year every year.
The Lions should have their sights set on fellow Buckeye Jeffery Okudah, while the Giants should be looking at shoring up the offensive line or adding receiver Jerry Jeudy. There is still a long draft season ahead of us, though, and all of this may change between now and late April.
The legend of Bayou Burreux grows
Did you see that Joe Burrow performance against the Oklahoma Sooners? The LSU Tigers quarterback threw for over 400 yards and seven touchdowns in the first half, and added a couple more in the second half as the Tigers cruised to a win in their first ever College Football Playoff game.
It was arguably one of the greatest performances in college football history, especially when you account for the stage they were playing at. Burrow is now the greatest QB to ever play in the CFP, and it is not even close.
Burrow can not take all of the credit, though. The Oklahoma defense was a disaster. All season we heard about how this was the year they had changed. They were different than usual and their massive improvement was what Oklahoma needed to finally take the next step and not get washed out in the first game of the CFP.
Well, that was a lie.
The Sooners defense was as bad as ever. Sure, they were taking on a usually talented Tigers offense, they looked like they had no idea what was going on. Oklahoma’s defensive backfield often looked like they had no idea what their assignments were in zone coverage, and the Tigers’ receivers were able to run them riot.
Ohio State and Clemson finally give us a good semi-final
There had only ever been two truly competitive CFP semi-finals before this year. The Ohio State Buckeyes upset of the Alabama Crimson Tide in 2014 will always stand as the perfect beginning of the new era of college football, and the Georgia Bulldogs’ narrow double-overtime win over the Sooners in 2017 was also an instant classic. Other than those, though, it is usually pretty clear who is going to come out on top by halftime.
The Buckeyes and Tigers gave us another banger on Saturday night. Both teams entered with elite quarterbacks leading high powered offenses. Justin Fields and Trevor Lawrence might be the top two quarterbacks in the 2021 draft, and this could have been the first of their many battles over the years. Both defenses managed to hold up as well, though.
It came down to the final drive, where a miscommunication between Fields and a receiver led to the Tigers intercepting an easy pass in the endzone.
Clemson’s defense will face the ultimate test in the National Championship, as their fellow Tiger-brothers have an offense that is almost playing at an NFL level at the moment. They held strong against the Buckeyes, though, which should give them so promise going forward.
Is this finally the year for Liverpool FC?
I have been a Liverpool FC fan for the entirety of my soccer-watching life (which, admittedly, started in line 2012). While many often talk about the pains of being a Liverpool fan, it has been somewhat pleasant for me. While the heartbreak of 2013/14 was horrible, it was nothing especially new for someone who also roots for the Detroit Lions and Phoenix Suns. I did see them win the League Cup in the first year of my fandom, and they won the ultimate prize in all of club soccer when the lifted the UEFA Champions League trophy in 2019.
A league title has always managed to elude them, though. In 2014 a late season collapse cost them their chance. Despite one of the best Premier League campaigns ever in 2019, they still finished just shy to somehow even better Manchester City team. Liverpool has not won a League title since 1990, which seems almost impossible considering the clubs long history and immense talent over the years.
It is really starting to look like 2020 will be the year where they finally break the curse, though.
Liverpool is currently a top the Premier League with an 13 point lead. They have yet to lose a league game this season, and pummeled second place Leicester City 4-0 on Boxing Day. A day later, their biggest title rivals, Man City, fell to Wolves 3-2 in a barn burner. Liverpool beat Wolves 1-0 on Sunday, strengthening their grip atop the table.
The season the Reds are having is unprecedented. They are arguably the most dominant team in Premier League history. It will take a spectacular collapse for them to lose the league title at this point. An even bigger collapse than the ones we saw in 2014 and 2017. A collapse even twice as big as those still may not be enough to cost them the league title.
I have learned in the past to not count my chickens before they’ve hatched when it comes to sports teams (moreso because the Lions than the Reds, though), but it is hard to not get excited. I have watched Liverpool when the biggest trophy in the world, a domestic trophy, Club World Cup, Super Cup, but never a league title. A generation of Liverpool fans have never seen the team lift a trophy they used to own.
It might finally be our year.
What I’m watching (and playing and reading)
I finally got through the second half of the first season of The Mandalorian. The show definitely dropped off a bit towards the latter-half of the season, but the finale was great. Worth a watch if you are planning to or already have Disney+ anyways. The show was also officially renewed for a second season next Fall, which gives us something to look forward to.
Black Panther, a movie I somehow never got around to watching until this week, was great. Not as good as I had hoped but it was a fine movie. Also, I am not really a “the villain is right” type of guy but Killmonger was definitely somewhat in the right. Watch Black Panther
Fallout: New Vegas was a game I tried to play a few months ago, but it’s slow start bored me into giving it up. I decided to pick it up again over winter break, and it captured me. I usually have trouble playing through open world games but I am so fascinated by the world the game takes place in. The different factions, the genuinely impactful decisions you can make, and even the moral choices. It is a great game, and if you happen to be one of the 10 other people in the world who has never played it, it is currently only $2.99 off on Steam.
What I wrote this week:
3 TV episodes I want to talk about (Medium)
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Be on the look out for my NFL Wild Card weekend preview on Thursday morning!